Hadi Norouzi

Hadi Norouzi
	Norouzi in July 2015
Personal information
Full name	Hadi Norouzi Pouri
Date of birth	22 June 1985
Place of birth	Kapurchal, Babol, Iran
Date of death	1 October 2015 (aged 30)
Place of death	Tehran, Iran
Height	1.77 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s)	Striker / Winger
Youth career
2000–2007	Persepolis
Senior career*
Years	Team
2005–2006	Pasargad
2006	Fajr Sepah Tehran
2007–2008	Damash Iranian
2008–2015	Persepolis
2013–2014	→ Naft Tehran (loan)
International career‡
2009–2011	Iran
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 24 August 2015; ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 28 July 2011

Hadi Norouzi (

striker who last played for Persepolis in the Persian Gulf Pro League.^[2]

He joined

Damash Iranian. In 2013, he joined Naft Tehran

in a six-month loan contract. At the end of the season, he was returned to Persepolis and became a regular squad player.

On 1 October 2015, Norouzi died of a heart attack in his sleep at the age of 30.[3] At the time of his death, he was Persepolis' captain, having been named as the club captain two months before.

Club career

Early years

Norouzi joined

Damah Iranian's Senior team of Division 1

.

Persepolis

Next year he returned to Persepolis, where he was mostly used as a substitute in 2008–09 season. He was top assistant of Persepolis in 2010–11 season, and extended his contract with Persepolis another two-years in summer 2013, keeping him in the team until 2015.^[4]

Loan to Naft Tehran

He joined

Naft Tehran with a season-long loan on 26 November 2013.^[5] He made 12 appearances for Naft and scored three goals.^{[citation needed}

]

Return to Persepolis

Norouzi returned to Persepolis before the start of

Naft Tehran. He was named captain of the club before the start of the 2015–16 season after former captain Mohammad Nouri left the club.^{[citation needed}

]

Club career statistics

Padideh

As of 25 September 2015.

Club	Division	Season	League		Hazfi Cup		Asia		Total
Club	Division	Season	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Damash Iranian	Division 1	2007–08	22	10	6	4	–	–	28	14
Persepolis	Pro League	2008–09	15	2	3	1	5	1	23	4
		2009–10	30	8	5	0	–	–	35	8
		2010–11	29	7	5	2	6	0	40	9
		2011–12	18	2	2	0	4	0	24	2
		2012–13	25	4	5	3	–	–	30	7
		14	10	0	1	1	–	–	11	1
Naft Tehran		14	12	3	0	0	–	–	12	3
Persepolis		2014–15	20	2	4	0	8	1	32	3
Persepolis		2015–16	5	1	1	0	–	–	6	1
Career Total			185	39	32	11	23	2	239	51

Assist Goals

Season	Team	Assists
08–09	Persepolis	0
09–10		2
10–11		7
11–12		1
12–13		4
13–14		0
13–14	Naft Tehran	0
14–15	Persepolis	3
15–16	Persepolis	1

International career

He started his International Career under Afshin Ghotbi in August 2009 against Bosnia and Herzegovina. He played nine international cups.

Death and tributes

In the morning of 1 October 2015, Persepolis team manager

minute's silence for Norouzi at their training camp in United Arab Emirates. Many fans also immediately flocked to Persepolis' training ground, Derafshifar Stadium

where he had participated in a training session in last day without any problem, to lay flowers and light candles.

A memorial was held at Azadi Stadium on 2 October which was attended by 20,000 mourners which rivals Esteghlal fans also attended the ceremony. His body remained at the stadium for one day and then was transferred to Babol. His funeral was held on the following day and he was buried at his hometown, Kapur Chal village at Babol.

On 4 October 2015, former teammate

Greek Super League win to him, by raising a shirt with his name and number (#24, REST IN PEACE CAPTAIN). Iran national under-23 football team players also dedicated their win to Hadi Norouzi during their match against Bahrain at 2015 WAFF U-23 Championship

.

In Persepolis' first match after the death of Norouzi, fans cheered-up him in 24th minute. They also made a mosaique at the stadium which shows Norouzi's name and number, "Hadi 24". Persepolis and his native city's club

Khoneh Be Khoneh retired their number 24 shirt in his honour. A city square was also renamed to Hadi Norouzi square in his home town Babol

.

Personal life

Norouzi had four siblings, all brothers and he was the youngest son of his family. He married Masoumeh Ebrahimpour in 2003.^[7] The couple had two children, a boy Hani (born 2009)^[8] and a girl, Hana (born 2014).